Meet Tilly Norwood, the AI Actress Facing SAG-AFTRA Backlash
Look at this Instagram picture. Isn’t she lovely? — a beauty perfect to be a Hollywood star. She is Tilly Norwood. She can act—from action movies to heavy drama TV series. She looks perfect, but she’s not human. She’s AI.
Tilly Norwood is created by Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden, founder of the company Xicoia — the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio. Velden pitched her AI creation as the next Scarlet Johansson. She added that several talent agents are eager to sign it, according to a report by Jo Ling Kent for CBS News.
Tilly’s beauty captures the attention of everyone. With the number of people noticing her content on IG, she’s now an online viral sensation. With the content posted, her creator Xicoia reaches a broader audience, including Guilds, actors, and filmmakers — unfortunately, they’re not happy about it.
Van der Velden is also the founder of the AI production studio Particle6. She introduced Norwood last month at the Zurich Summit, an annual conference held during the Zurich Film Festival, where film industry leaders, investors, and creators gather to discuss movies, technology, and emerging trends such as AI. Since unveiling the AI creation, she said there were talent agencies showing interest in Norwood, and she expected to announce a deal soon.
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The company received an immediate wave of backlash from the groups, protesting that artificial intelligence should not have a starring role in the acting profession.
SAG AFTRA released a statement on Tuesday, Sept. 30., mentioning that the Screen Actors Guild said that “creativity is, and should remain, human-centered.”
“To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation,” the guild said.
The statement also warned that an AI designed to mimic actors relies on stolen performances, threatens jobs, undermines performers’ livelihoods, and “devalues human artistry.”
Sean Astin, the newly elected SAG-AFTRA president and known for his roles in The Lord of the Rings and The Goonies, underscored that AI actress Tilly Norwood is a manufactured construct.
“You’re made up of stuff that doesn’t belong to you,” he told CBS News. “Let’s just make sure that credit is given where credit is due.”
Can Denmark’s New AI Copyright Law Impact AI Production Studios?
Last September, Denmark introduced a policy that strengthens copyright protections surrounding AI training data, requiring companies to demonstrate their right to use creative works for training models. It’s designed to protect artists, writers, and performers from having their work used without consent. The law is not effective and needs to undergo consultation and legislative stages. With the guild raising fresh concerns, will lawmakers extend protections to artists beyond their own borders? And once such a law is enacted, how will it reshape AI production studios that rely on recreating human features for digital characters?
The debate over AI protections is unfolding not only in Denmark but across the globe. As AI technology advances, it raises concerns about its impact on livelihoods and intensifies fears over how far AI might go.